The Follies of the King - Plaidy Jean - Страница 52

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Roger de Mortimer stepped forward and bowed low. ‘Pray tell me who you

are,’ she said regally.

‘Mortimer at your service, my lady.’

Alspaye had taken a step backwards and she turned to him. ‘One of your

prisoners?’ she asked.

‘My lady, the Earl of Wigmore has recently suffered a great bereavement.’

‘Ah, yes,’ said the Queen, ‘the Lord of Chirk. The rigours of prison were too much for him.’

‘He was an old man, my lady,’ said Mortimer.

She nodded. ‘And you are being given a little exercise in case you too

should succumb. Is that so, my lord Lieutenant?’

‘It seemed a merciful thing to do,’ was the answer.

‘It was so. My lord Mortimer, take a turn with me.’ She glanced at Alspaye who withdrew a few steps. Then to Mortimer: ‘Come, my lord.’

‘You have been here some time, I believe,’ she said.

‘Some two years, my lady.’

She looked at him closely. The pallor of his skin accentuated the fierce dark brows; and she thought how handsome he was in spite of the privations he had suffered.

‘You have felt deeply the death of your uncle, I’ll swear,’ she went on.

‘We had been together so long. My father died when I was seven years old

and from that time my uncle was a father to me. Yes, my lady, indeed I feel his loss deeply?’ He clenched his fist. ‘One day?’

She felt an exultation gripping her. He was a man of violent passion, this Mortimer.

‘Yes, my lord, one day?’

‘My lady, you must pardon my emotion. This was a beloved uncle? one

who had been as a father to me. I have been long in prison?’

‘I know it,’ she answered gently. ‘But you could say you were fortunate.

The King might so easily have condemned you to death.’

‘He did, but— and it seems strange to me— he commuted the sentence to

life imprisonment.’

‘Life imprisonment! Perhaps death would have been preferable.’

‘Nay, my lady, I think not. It is true I am the King’s prisoner. I spend my days in a hideous dungeon? except when my good friend Alspaye gives me a

breath of fresh air. But I still would cling to life. I still hope, my lady, that one day I shall be free of this place.’

‘You think the King would pardon you?’

‘Not while the Despensers are with him. But it may be they will not always be there.’

‘You think he will rid himself of them?’

‘Nay, my lady, but it may be that others will. Did they not despatch Piers Gaveston somewhat hastily to his Maker? But I talk too much. Forgive me. I have been shut away so long. It is years since I have had the good fortune to speak with a lady and yet here I am? in this prison garden talking and walking with the queen of them all.’

‘You have not forgotten how to pay compliments, my lord.’

‘In your presence, my lady, they would rise naturally to the lips of any man.’

‘So you know who I am?’ she asked.

‘My lady, I have been long in this noisome prison. They say that many have suffered from visions. I cannot but help wonder whether that is what is

happening to me now. It may be that this is a dream from which I shall shortly wake. In this dream I am speaking to the most beautiful woman in England and France and in the whole world, I dareswear. The Queen herself.’

‘Yes, indeed you pay pretty compliments. I am no vision, Mortimer. I am

your Queen. I will say adieu. The lieutenant is bewildered.’

‘My lady, if I could?’

‘Yes, Mortimer, what would you have of me?’

‘I am afraid to ask it.’

‘You afraid? I doubt it. You have the look of a man who knows little of

fear.’

‘If I could see you again?’

‘Who knows. It may come to pass.’

She turned away and left the gardens.

???????

In her apartment she went to a window and looked out. He was still in the

garden and talking earnestly to Alspaye. As for herself a wild excitement had taken possession of her.

What fierce eyes he had— large dark passionate eyes. She had sensed the

vitality of him— the essential masculinity. ‘All that time incarcerated in the Tower,’ she murmured. ‘Recently bereaved of a beloved uncle and yet I never saw a man who had more fire in him. How his eyes flashed when he spoke of

Gaveston and the Despensers! How such a man as he is would despise such as them. How he would despise Edward!

Mortimer— the King of the Marcher lands. Such a man? she thought? I have wanted to meet all my life.

She must see him again soon. She would make Alspaye understand that he

was to be taken to the garden on the next day and she would be there.

Perhaps she should be a little more discreet. But she was tired of discretion.

She had been humiliated too long and it might well be that this was the time for action.

She scarcely slept that night. She could only think that somewhere in this Tower he too was sleeping.

Alspaye was eager to please the Queen. He was also under the spell of

Mortimer; she saw that and she was not surprised. Alspaye was delighted that the Queen was interested in his prisoner.

The Queen joined them in the gardens.

‘You see your vision has returned, Mortimer.’

‘To put such hope in my heart that I dare not believe in it,’ he replied.

‘You would dare anything,’ she answered.

‘I was once known for my daring,’ he agreed.

‘And will be again, I doubt not.’

‘That is for the future.’

‘And you believe in your future?’

‘I am beginning to, my lady.’

‘Rest assured, your faith will not be displaced.

‘You are good to me,’ he said.

‘I like your kind, Mortimer,’ she answered.

He understood at once that this was a reference to the King and his kind.

He answered: ‘When a man has lost his freedom he is reckless of what else

he might lose. He speaks his mind. I will say this that I have always felt deeply for you. If you had raised an army to drive out of the country those who

displeased you, I should have been at the head of that army.’

‘Yes, Mortimer, you speak rashly indeed when you talk of raising armies.’

‘How could I raise armies, madam, when I am a poor prisoner?’

‘But a moment ago you admitted that was but a temporary state. One of

these days?’

He turned to her and they faced each other. Some understanding passed

between them. In that moment they both realized the deep significance of this encounter.

‘Mortimer,’ she said, ‘I believe there is much you and I should say to each other.’

‘Standing here with you,’ he answered, ‘is for me, complete delight. Here

am I a prisoner, death could steal up on me at any moment, yet I can say that I never was as happy in the whole of my life as I am at this moment.’

‘And why is this?’

‘Because I have found you.’

She was shaken with emotion and she said: ‘It was I who found you, was it

not?’

‘Let us say we found each other.’

‘We have met but twice and that in this prison garden with Alspaye keeping guard on you.’

‘Alspaye is a good friend to mc. He hates the Despensers.’

‘How many people in this country hate the Despensers?’

‘Myriads. We have but to find them? to rouse them. Then I swear to you in

a very short time the pretty Despenser will go the way of Gaveston.’

‘How you hate the Despenser.’

‘I hate him more than ever now I have spoken with my incomparable lady

Queen.’

‘The King is as he is?’

‘It is no way for a King to be.’

‘He has done his duty. You know I have a fine son? two sons.’

‘Young Edward is growing up. That is a matter for rejoicing.’

‘You are speaking treason, Mortimer.’

‘I know it. How could I help but be treasonable to the King when I am

standing so close to the Queen.’

‘You mean?’

‘I mean what is best not said. But being a woman as well as a queen you will know.’

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